1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rotary machines including motors, pumps and compressors, and more particularly, to a rotary piston machine having multiple seals between ends of a rotary piston member and arcuate side walls that form a cavity in the rotary piston machine.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Rotary piston machines are well known. United States Patent Application Publication US 2004/0244762, A1, presents a typical rotary piston machine with a myriad of configurations and cooperating machine members that ultimately provide rotary motion.
The problem with prior art rotary piston machines is that a rotating piston member forms a compression or ignition chamber via narrow edge portions of ends of the piston member engaging side walls of a cavity, thereby forming single seals with relatively small lateral dimensions between the ends of the piston member and the side walls, resulting in seals with relatively small surface areas. The small surface areas of the single seals allow a small amount of “leakage” of a fuel-air mixture from the compression chamber before ignition of the fuel-air mixture occurs, thereby reducing the power generated by the quantity of fuel-air mixture “exploded” in the compression chamber.
Another problem with prior art rotary piston machines is that a drive shaft or drive pin that is forcibly rotated by the piston member to ultimately drive a flywheel, is designed to follow a generally circular path with a relatively small diameter. The small diameter path reduces the amount of torque generated by the piston member when forcibly rotated by the exploding fuel-air mixture. Further, the small diameter path promotes a relatively fast piston member rotation. A relatively fast piston member rotation can result in a loss of power when the fuel-air mixture ignites, due to piston member rotation speed expanding the compression chamber at a rate that reduces the force of the ignited expanding gases upon the rotating piston member.
Yet another problem with prior art rotary piston machines is that the piston member includes relatively large lateral dimensions. The large lateral dimensions results in a piston member with a relatively large mass that reduces the power output from the rotary piston machine.
A need exists for a rotary piston machine with single or multiple seals with relatively large surface areas between each end of the rotary piston member and arcuate side walls forming the cavity of the enclosure of the rotary piston machine. Further, a need exists for a rotating piston member with a relatively small lateral dimension to reduce the mass of the piston member. Also, a need exists for a rotary piston machine with a drive pin that follows a relatively large diameter circular path relative to the diameter of the cavity of the enclosure of the machine.